CD Reviews

One of my favorites from the Count

James A. Vedda | Alexandria, VA USA | 01/30/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the multitude of Basie recordings out there, I was glad to find this one remastered on CD, because it ranks right up there among my favorites from the band. (Also because my LP-to-CD dub came out with poor fidelity.)The 1963 Basie lineup was impressive. Some familiar names: Snooky Young, Sonny Cohn, Al Aarons, and Don Rader on trumpet; Urbie Green on trombone; and a sax section consisting of Marshall Royal, Eric Dixon, Frank Wess, Frank Foster, and Charlie Fowlkes (wow!). Sonny Payne was on drums, and Freddie Greene provided rhythm guitar, as usual. All the arrangements were done by Billy Byers.The album comes out kicking with the title track, followed by three slow tunes and a blues number that demonstrate the crisp execution and dynamic contrasts we've come to recognize as the classic Basie style. Then the tempo picks up again with "Rabble Rouser," which was the opening track on side two of the original LP. Next, "Sassy" features flute work by Frank Wess, who can be heard on that instrument on other parts of the album as well. The energy level ramps up again for "Gymnastics," followed by the very comfortable medium swing of "Yuriko," which includes some nice licks by Frank Foster on tenor and some excellent ensemble scoring. Finishing up the set is an up-tempo battle between tenor men Dixon and Foster called "Doodle-Oodle."The CD is an import, so it's expensive and the liner notes for the 2004 release are in Japanese. The package is a cardboard mini-LP design rather than a jewel case, with the original liner notes on the back, just big enough to be read. The packaging may not appeal to everyone, but fans of this kind of music should be glad that folks in Japan are making an effort to preserve our culture for us. Jazz CD archives would be missing a lot of important titles if they didn't."

Basie's band was red hot and this disc proves it

Elwood Conway | Frankfort, KY United States | 03/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, this may be the best of the early to mid 1960s Verve recordings Basie made. This Japanese only mini LP CD replicates the disc and jacket to a tee. The sound is excellent! The playing is out of this world. If you love the Count, or if you simply love wonderfully played jazz from a "tight" band, you must add this to your collection."

"In the inbetween time of Basie after his great Nogran/Clef and Roulette time his second Verve- Time was not the very best.There were great albums like this one, like "Basies Beat", like "On my Way shouting again" like "Li'l O'l Groovemaker" and "Frankly Basie" there were some in my opinion mediocre ones like "Basie picks the winners" or the ones with Arthur Prysock and Sammy Davis Jr.or "Basies Beatles Bag" and it got worse with UA (Bond Themes), Dot (except "Standing Ovation" and Straight Ahead" and the Two Mills- Brothers Albums). Then came many other labels like Coral, Command, Groove Merchant, Happy Tiger, Daybreak (Two great Albums, produced by Sonny Burke) but finally came Norman Granz again and produced a lot of nice albums for his new founded Pablo Label!"